For the purpose of fixing an arbitrary object with a belt, a tongue through which the belt is inserted and a locking device for locking the tongue are typically used. This combination of the tongue through which the belt is inserted and the locking device for locking the tongue can be used for fixing various objects with the belt. For example, this combination is widely used for fixing a cargo such as a container, an opening and closing box, a door of a shelf, a passenger in a vehicle and the like.
Such a belt fixing method using the combination of the tongue through which the belt is inserted and the locking device has significantly high reliability. Thus, in order to ensure safety when a specific object is transported, there is a case where it is obligated to fix the specific object with the belt. For example, in a case where a passenger is transported by a vehicle or an airplane, the tongue through which the belt is inserted and the locking device for locking the tongue are provided at a seat and the passenger must fix himself/herself to the seat with the belt during driving of the vehicle or during takeoff and landing of the airplane. Further, in a case where a cargo such as a container is transported by an airplane or a ship, it is required to fix the cargo to a floor, a wall or the like of the airplane or the ship with the tongue through which the belt is inserted and the locking device for locking the tongue during operation of the airplane or the ship.
As described above, the belt fixing method using the combination of the tongue through which the belt is inserted and the locking device for locking the tongue is significantly important for ensuring the safety. Thus, for example, in the case where the passenger is transported by the vehicle or the airplane, a responsible person (such as a driver of the vehicle or a flight attendant of the airplane) in charge of ensuring the safety for the passenger needs to visually check whether or not the passenger is fixed to the seat with the tongue through which the belt is inserted and the locking device for locking the tongue. Further, in the case where the cargo such as a container is transported by the airplane or the ship, a responsible person in charge of ensuring the safety for the operation of the airplane or the ship needs to visually check whether or not the cargo is fixed to the floor, the wall or the like of the airplane or the ship with the tongue through which the belt is inserted and the locking device for locking the tongue.
Such a safety-check operation is visually performed. Thus, in a case where the number of objects to be fixed (such as passengers, cargos, opening and closing boxes and doors) is large, the safety-check operation requires huge manpower. Further, the visual check is likely to cause human errors such as overlooking of a non-fixed state and there is a possibility that such human errors lead to a serious accident.
In order to solve this problem, patent document 1 discloses a seat-belt wearing informing system using a locking device 920 for locking a tongue 910 as shown in FIG. 1. The seat-belt wearing informing system of the patent document 1 is used for informing wearing of a seat-belt of a passenger in a vehicle. The seat-belt (not shown in the drawing) is inserted through the tongue 910 and the passenger inserts the tongue 910 into the locking device 920 and locks the tongue 910 in a state that the passenger is in a sitting position on a seat to fix himself/herself to the seat.
The locking device 920 includes a lever 930 pivotally moved in a plane perpendicular to an insertion direction of the tongue 910 when the tongue 910 is inserted into the locking device 920, a power generator 940 fixedly provided in the locking device 920 and a wireless transmitting part (not shown in the drawing) driven by electric power generated by the power generator 940.
When the tongue 910 is inserted into the locking device 920, a pushing member 921 in the locking device 920 is pushed in the insertion direction of the tongue 910 by the tongue 910 and makes contact with the lever 930. When the tongue 910 is further inserted in this state, the lever 930 is pushed by the pushing member 921, and thereby the lever 930 is pivotally moved in the plane perpendicular to the insertion direction of the tongue 910. When the lever 930 is pivotally moved, the lever 930 makes contact with a button 950 of the power generator 940 and the button 950 is pushed by the lever 930. As a result, power generation of the power generator 940 is performed. After that, the wireless transmitting part of the locking device 920 is driven by the electric power generated by the power generator 940 and then a signal for informing an event that the tongue 910 is locked, that is an event that the passenger wears the seat-belt is wirelessly transmitted to a management device such as a server, a personal computer and a mobile device. Further, the power generation of the power generator 940 is again performed when the lock of the tongue 910 is released and the tongue 910 is discharged from the locking device 920. At this time, the wireless transmitting part is again driven by the electric power generated by the power generator 940 and a signal informing an event that the lock of the tongue 910 is released and the tongue 910 is discharged from the locking device 920, that is an event that the seat-belt is released is wirelessly transmitted to the management device.
The responsible person in charge of ensuring the safety can check a fixed state of each of the objects to be fixed by referring to the management device. With this configuration, it becomes unnecessary to visually check the fixed states of the objects to be fixed one by one, and thereby the manpower required for the safety-check operation is significantly reduced. Further, since the fixed state of each of the objects to be fixed is determined based on the signal wirelessly transmitted from the wireless transmitting part of the locking device 920, the human errors such as the overlooking of unfixed states of the objects to be fixed do not occur unlike the case of visually performing the safety-check operation.
As described above, in the locking device 920 of the patent document 1, when the tongue 910 is inserted into the locking device 920, the lever 930 is pushed by the pushing member 921 and pivotally moved in the plane perpendicular to the insertion direction of the tongue 910. After that, the button 950 of the power generator 940 is pushed due to the pivotal movement of the lever 930, and thereby the power generation of the power generator 940 is performed.
As described above, in the locking device 920 of the patent document 1, the horizontal movement in the insertion direction of the tongue 910 is converted into the pivotal movement in the plane perpendicular to the insertion direction of the tongue 910 through the lever 930. Thus, the locking device 920 of the patent document 1 needs to internally ensure a space for performing the pivotal movement of the lever 930 in the plane perpendicular to the insertion direction of the tongue 910. Therefore, there is a problem that a thickness of the locking device 920 increases. Further, in order to perform this conversion from the horizontal movement in the insertion direction of the tongue 910 to the pivotal movement of the lever 930 in the plane perpendicular to the insertion direction of the tongue 910 as described above, the number of assemblies of the locking device 920 increases and a configuration of the locking device 920 becomes complicated. Thus, there is a problem that a cost of the locking device 920 increases.